26 March 2015

Replace Outlook Attachments With SharePoint Links

Sending attachments within an organization is not a very efficient way of sharing information. It is much better to use SharePoint document libraries for files that should be shared, and we are now developing a new solution that makes it easy to upload files to SharePoint directly from Outlook: SP Attach for Outlook and SharePoint.

SharePoint better for file storage than Outlook
Outlook has many benefits, but excellent file storage is not one of them! A SharePoint site is safer and gives a better overview over the files, and the SharePoint Search is more powerful than the Outlook Search. SharePoint also has features like version info and alert possibilities, and you can create different views in a document library.

Upload from Outlook
Even if you are well aware of all the benefits of using SharePoint document libraries instead of e-mail attachments, you might not want to have the trouble of first uploading the file to SharePoint and then copy the link and add it to the e-mail. When you are writing an e-mail in Outlook and want to add a file, it is quicker to send it as an attachment than to upload it and paste the link in the e-mail.

With SP Attach you don't have to bother with upload and link. You can attach the file to the e-mail as you normally do, with the "Attach file" button or by drag and drop. Then SP Attach will take care of the upload, and SP Attach also adds the link to the file in the e-mail.

Compare the steps to upload a file to a SharePoint document library with and without SP Attach:

Without SP Attach

With SP Attach

1. Open the SharePoint site.

1. Attach the file to the e-mail.

2. Open the document library.

(2. Change SharePoint library.)

3. Upload the file to the library.

(3. Confirm by clicking OK.)

4. Copy the link to the file.

4. Send the e-mail.

5. Paste the link in the e-mail.

6. Send the e-mail.

Learn more in the slideshow!
The SP Attach documentation is coming together, and today I can show you the slideshow, which shows how to use and configure SP Attach. The solution is installed and configured on each PC where it should be used, so each user can get just the SP Attach settings that he or she needs.

Most of the development is finished, so I hope to come back soon and tell you about the release of SP Attach for Outlook and SharePoint!